DIVERSITY RESOURCES

Reprint from Mosaics, Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)

To help employers reduce their liability and meet legal requirements, Santa Monica-based Corte Hispana has developed a Spanish language training video (33 minutes). This product is specifically written for and directed to employees and supervisors whose first language is Spanish - no dubbing, no subtitles. The program is designed to reach culturally diverse Spanish-speaking employees of all educational levels. The video, "No!...Basta Ya de Acosarme!" ("No! Stop harassing me!") and its Leader's Guide, "La Obligación es Mutua" (The Obligation is Mutual), comprise a training package that is versatile and comprehensive.

The video creates awareness of potentially harassing behavior using 15 dramatic scenarios, written, produced, and acted by Hispanics, which reflect culturally appropriate examples that can occur in the workplace. The video can be used as a stand-alone training tool or in conjunction with a facilitator-led training session. The 65-page Leader's Guide provides step-by-step instructions, reprintable handouts, quizzes, and a completion certificate.

VIDEO STORYLINE

¡No!...Basta Ya de Acosarme (No!…Stop Harassing Me)

This is an educational video in Spanish designed for the workplace to educate employees and employers regarding discrimination and sexual harassment prevention. The stories dramatized and the explanations, observations and recommendations included are designed to be used in a workplace training session. The examples in the video cover all levels of an organization.

Overview:

The setting is a “training session” at a company. The president of the company greets the new hires and existing employees, including those who aspire to be supervisors. He explains the 1998 Supreme Court rulings related to sexual harassment. He further emphasizes that the organization will not tolerate any kind of discrimination including harassment, sexual harassment and retaliation. He then introduces the Human Resources personnel to continue the training session.

The role of Mrs. Dominguez and Mrs. Martinez as the “trainers” is to explain the 15 scenarios in the video and why they are considered sexual harassment. Before and after each scenario, they discuss the behavior and the consequences of sexual harassment and how to prevent it from occurring at the workplace.

At the conclusion, the president returns to address the attendees and reinforces the company’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy and to assure the employees that if a complaint is reported, it will be investigated immediately. He finishes by saying that every employee has the right to work in a positive environment that is free of discrimination.

BREAKDOWN OF SCENES:

The video is divided into two sections: "quid pro quo" and "hostile environment"and covers the three types of misconduct forbidden by the law: verbal, visual and physical. The fourth type of discrimination, ‘retaliation,’ is also dramatized. Finally, the training is recapitulated with flashbacks reviewing the areas of sexually harassing misconduct.

Harassment among coworkers between a male and another male or a female and another female or a male to a female or vice versa, is against the law!